1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a map display technique of a navigation system for guiding a user along a route.
2. Description of the Related Art
As map display techniques in a navigation system for guiding a user along a route, a technique has been conventionally known in which a user's current position and route are easily recognized by superimposing the current position and a route to a destination on a map showing character strings such as a place name, road name, and facility name, and figures of facilities.
In such a technique, in order to enable the user to instantly recognize the character string and figure on the map, the character string and figure may be displayed in a different form for each target type. A character string showing a road, for example, is designated by a different color or font for each type such as an expressway and an ordinary road.
According to the conventional technique described above, since the character string and figure displayed on the map are required to have a size and position in consideration of visibility, the position and range of the character string or figure displayed on the map may not strictly correspond to the geographical position and range of an object represented by the character string or figure. If a displayed map includes a number of character strings or figures, an individual character string or figure, or the represented object, is difficult to distinguish.
Therefore, according to the conventional display technique, users may have difficulty in distinguishing a character string or a figure on a map, or in distinguishing the character string or figure representing an object relating to a route such as a facility along the route. In this case, the user's object relating to the route may be difficult to recognize on the map, so that the user can hardly utilize the object as a landmark of the route.